Consumer Medicines Information Awareness
A two-week pilot campaign is being conducted in Canberra in March/April 2010. It will tell Canberrans about the availability of Consumer Medicine Information (CMIs) - from pharmacists or online - whenever they purchase a prescription medicine.
The campaign, across local media in Canberra and through a range of other promotions, is being funded by healthlinks.net, a Pharmacy Guild-owned company which works on behalf of pharmaceutical companies to deliver medicine information to clinicians, pharmacists, publications, compendiums and consumer websites. Furthermore, healthlinks.net is continuously updating and improving products and services to ensure the needs of all people who require medicine information are met, including drug images, large print, Braille and synthetic voice audio.
The purpose of the campaign is to ensure that consumers know that it is okay to "just ask" at any time for CMI. A better understanding of medicines can lead to better health outcomes. The campaign will also serve as a reminder to pharmacists about the benefits of ensuring that patients receive CMIs in appropriate circumstances.
The Canberra campaign will include the distribution of "just ask" materials at shopping centres, radio and print advertising, and mobile out door advertising to drive home the message.
The National President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Kos Sclavos, welcomed the Canberra campaign, saying: "Anything that can be done to improve consumer health literacy is beneficial. Taking the right medicine at the right time, and having a good knowledge of your medicines can have measurable benefits for individuals and the health system as a whole." Posted 17/3/2010
The importance of CMI
Medications can be hard to understand sometimes.
But there's no need to be confused.
If you want to know more about the medications you have be prescribed, or even the medications you have been taking for some time, just review the CMI documents on this website or ask your pharmacist.
One of the key means of reducing the risk of medication error is being adequately educated and informed about your medication through the use of Consumer Medicines Information (CMI).
When you have a better understanding of your medicines you'll have a better chance of living a healthier life.
Accessible Formats
We are pleased to make CMI available to you accessible formats. The CMI on this site are now displayed in user friendly html format for easier reading online. For printing, we have both standard 3 column formats and large print formatted available. In the near future, we will be able to provide audio files for online listening and download for personal use. Braille format files will also be made available in the future.
The development of the accessible CMIs was the result of a project undertaken by healthlinks.net in conjunction with the Pharmacy Guild of Australia and Vision Australia. It was partially funded by AusIndustry through an ICIP Grant.
